Trucker of the year ...

It takes an awful lot of commitment, time, and all-too-precious dollars to not just be successful as an independent operator or small trucking business these days but to be a safe one as well.

For that very reason, then, good and safe operators should get some praise – and thus this is why American Truckermagazine and WIX Filtersteamed up to create a new award for the often-overlooked yet hard-working-as ever-small operators in the trucking industry: the “American Trucker of the Year” award to be precise.

It’s really a simple concept, though: celebrating those independents and small trucking companies that are committed to safety, innovation, and the willingness to travel new and different roads in search of ever-more efficient ways to deliver the goods this nation needs in order to thrive.

This isn’t a “trophy-and-a-handshake” awards program, either, mind you. WIX Filters is sponsoring some pretty big prizes to help recognize the best small truckers in business today, with the grand prize including four tickets to a 2014 NASCAR or NHRA event, up to $2,500 in WIX heavy duty filters, and a $500 give card for starters.

Not too shabby, if you ask me.

But now the question gets turned around to you: Do you, or a trucking operator you know fitting the above criteria, have what it takes to be the “American Trucker of the Year”?

For example, do you know a successful small fleet that does a tremendous amount of charity work? Or do you know an owner-operator that’s been willing not only to invest in the latest safety technologies but achieve a monetary payback with them as well?

If you or a trucker you know fits such a description, go to our contest link by clicking hereand fill out a free entry form. You can also go to our contest’s Facebook pagetoo if you like.

Now, there are some essay questions in there, too, because we want to hear – in your own words – why you think your trucking business is a cut way above the rest.